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07/28/2012

I have not yet fully understood how water works in Delhi. For example water cuts are very frequent. In fact there is a huge problem in some areas.

In my warehouse, for example, there is a guy who comes to fill the tank twice a week.

In my house I do not know how it works exactly. There are tanks on the roof and when they are empty, someone activates a pump which gets them filled. If the person in question is not here, not pump so no water!

07/24/2012

About the things that strike me whenever I come home, and that I then forget...

After the first minutes of confusion (especially after a night on the plane), I breathe. I am home. No need of a house, a "home", just the sense of "belonging", of being among people like me. A feeling to be enjoyed in silence. Because as soon as I open my mouth, my illusions vanish. My experience as an expatriate visiting my country makes me someone different, with other references. Therefore I quickly feel lost in conversations. And I never stay long enough to find my place with my people.

But as long as I don’t have to open my mouth, what a relief to be in France! To no longer be a circus freak being photographed or solicited non-stop! *

Beyond these considerations, there are a few things that impressed me during my recent trip to France:

1.No one will help you with your luggage, and there is no ramp nowhere (hotels, metro, train etc.). Be healthy, eat fruits and vegetables and then break you back!

2.In each train there is the bitter woman that as soon as a person answers their cellphone will show the sticker "silence" to her husband grimbling that “it is written that phones are forbidden, people are unbelievable, no education, go Darling, go tell her to switch it off."

4.Men are beautiful. Okay not all of them. But it is still a delight for the eyes, globally. And then police men... Ah police men... We are far from the Indian policemen who impress people just for their moustache, fat belly, pants up to the chin, and bamboo stick!

5.Let’s talk about pharmacies. Caves of Ali Baba! Where it is good to hang around between ultra-hydrating creams (just hydrating lotions are passé), anti-blister bandages and other sweet things. And then the supermarkets. This time, I only went for an order: baking chocolate. That's all. And I left with six kilos of food, at least! Madeleines, grenadine, sausage, peppermill, wine, and still I could not take yoghurts. Temple of consumption mayby but temple above all for me who is twenty kilometers away by rickshaw by 45 degrees to find one-thousandth of those goods.

6.Speaking of consumption, a piece of beef accompanied by a glass of red wine, and good company, in the backyard of a restaurant in Nîmes took me too heaven. Did I find it so picturesque because it is so rare now?

7.I was asked a number of times during this stay, and countless times during the last six years, why it is difficult to live and work in India. And whenever I am in my natural environment, I can’t remember. It is already so far away! In general, twenty-four hours on the Indian soil suffice to refresh my memory. I have therefore decided to take notes from now on!

* I often wonder how "extraordinary" people live their difference. Any time I meet one of them, I ask the question. Children of migrants for example, or giants, etc.

07/12/2012

Question that can be legitimately ask me after five and half years but that annoys me no less. Since I don’t have the answer.

However, what I can say is that despite all the warnings of Mumbaite friends, Delhi is a city fairly "easy" to live in.

Cleaner, more spacious, more fluid, more cultural than Mumbai.

Less accessible (nothing can be reached on foot), less dynamic (everything closes early), less populated (even if the numbers are equivalent, there is not the same feeling of overcrowding), less open on the horizon (obviously the sea is not there), less secure at night... To cut it short two completely different cities...

Finally, as I am used to say, it is not the location that makes the place but rather the people you meet... And so far the Delhiites I met are rather cool!

When I moved to Mumbai, I thought I would never get used to the moisture. Feeling sticky all the time was not really my cup of tea, having bed sheets smelling of mushrooms either. And finally? I looked at my household tools get rusted one after the other. I learned to eat moldy bread. In short I did get used to it.

And in Delhi I feel hot. I feel very hot. I feel very very hot. I get up with nausea because I feel so hot. I hardly eat because I feel so hot. I'm tired because I feel so hot. Enough complaining let us talk about this next summer!!